CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 757

Introduced by Assembly Member Davies

February 16, 2021

An act to add Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 1140) to Part 3 of Division 2 of the Labor Code, relating to employment, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 757, as introduced, Davies. Private employment: COVID-19: positive test or diagnosis: documentation.
Existing law provides for the regulation and supervision of employment, including compensation, working hours, and various privileges and immunities relating to employment. Existing law authorizes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement to enforce the Labor Code and all labor laws of the state the enforcement of which is not specifically vested in any other officer, board, or commission.
This bill would authorize a private employer to request prescribed documentation of a positive COVID-19 test or diagnosis if an employee reports that the employee has been diagnosed or tested positive for COVID-19 and is unable to work and the employer determines that an employee may be subject to a 14-day exclusion from the workplace as required under certain law or regulations. The bill would require an employer, in requesting documentation pursuant to the bill and in receiving information in response to that request, to comply with existing privacy protections.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 1140) is added to Part 3 of Division 2 of the Labor Code, to read:
CHAPTER  10.  Documentation of COVID-19 Test or Diagnosis

1140.
 (a) A private employer may request documentation of a positive COVID-19 test or diagnosis if an employee reports that the employee has been diagnosed or tested positive for COVID-19 and is unable to work and the employer determines that the employee may be subject to a 14-day exclusion from the workplace as required under regulations of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Section 3205 of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations) or under any similar COVID-19 exclusion requirements established in statute or regulation. An employer, in requesting documentation pursuant to this section and in receiving information in response to that requirement, shall comply with existing privacy protections.
(b) An employer shall consider documentation sufficient if it consists of either of the following:
(1) A positive COVID-19 test. For the purpose of this paragraph, a “positive COVID-19 test” means a positive result on a diagnostic test for SARS-CoV-2 that is both of the following:
(A) Approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration or has an Emergency Use Authorization from the United States Food and Drug Administration to diagnose current infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
(B) Administered in accordance with the United States Food and Drug Administration approval or the United States Food and Drug Administration Emergency Use Authorization, as applicable.
(2) Written documentation by a health care provider advising the employee to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19.

SEC. 2.

 This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to protect businesses that are essential to the preservation of the public peace, health, and safety and the state’s economic security during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary for this measure to go into immediate effect.